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Kenya

First Regional Experts’ Meeting of the Joint OECD/AfDB Initiative to Support Business Integrity and Anti-Bribery Efforts in Africa

The First Regional Experts’ Meeting of the Joint OECD/AfDB Initiative to Support Business Integrity and Anti-Bribery Efforts in Africa took place on 13 – 14 January 2011 in Lilongwe, Malawi, and officially launched the Joint Initiative.

The meeting was attended by over 70 representatives from government authorities responsible with anti-corruption matters, civil society organisations, and business and industry associations from across the Sub-Saharan African region. This included government representatives from 15 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, as well as representatives from the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship, Business Action Against Corruption, Business Unity South Africa, Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, GTZ, Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Kenya Private Sector Alliance, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative/Publish What You Pay, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Transparency International, the World Bank and the World Bank Institute, among other organisations.

The main outcomes of the meeting included the discussion and updating of the Stocktaking Report on Business Integrity and Anti-Bribery Legislation, Policies and Practices in Twenty African Countries, the adoption of the Recommendations issued in the Stocktaking Report, and the official adoption of the Anti-Bribery and Business Integrity Course of Action for Africa.

The Stocktaking Report and its Recommendations were generally well-received with enthusiasm by the participants of the meeting. The Course of Action sets out a number of specific and concrete steps that the countries in the region will endeavour to undertake in their anti-bribery and business integrity efforts, and will importantly serve as the main basis for future work of the Joint Initiative.